Iceberg LakeとMinaret Lakeの間

If you are a southbound hiker of JMT, you will find a junction of Ediza Lake before reaching Shadow Lake. If you turn west here, you will reach Ediza Lake and Iceberg Lake. This is a well-maintained trail. When the weather is bad or you have no confidence in the cross country technique. You may pitch your tent near either lake. Both lakes are very beautiful. It is worth to visit.

The south side of Iceberg Lake trail is not maintained. You must walk on the boulders and reach the outlet of Cecile Lake. People walk both sides. I had walked the west side. I think the west side is easy to walk because the boulders are rare.

You may go southward a little from the outlet, then walk down because the slope is not steep. When you reach Minaret Creek, you will find the pack trail, which connects JMT at Johnston Lake. On the way to JMT junction, you can pitch your tent at the meadows

It is an easy cross country route. If you find the right way, you don't need to use your hands. But when the weather is bad or there is a large snowpack, avoid this route. There is a small tent site at the south end of the Cecile Lake. There are several huge rocks at the south end of the lake. Then you cannot walk from the west to the east side.

Ireland Creek in Lyell Canyon

There is no difficult river crossing from Happy Isle to Tuolumne. Sunrise Creek is usually shallow and easy to cross. Ireland Creek in Lyell Canyon is a little difficult. The width is 2- 3 meter, but the stream is fast. There may be a kind of log bridge. When there is no log bridge, you must jump into the water. It is not comfortable.

Ireland Creek in Lyell Canyon

2011.07.31

Lyell Head Water

There is a tent site at the headwater of Lyell Fork and the river crossing adjacent to the site. When the water level is low, the river crossing is easily done by using the boulders. But when the water level is high, it is difficult to cross without getting wet. The 2009 photo indicates the low level of water and the 2011 photo indicates the high level of water since lots of snow remained. I pitched the tent near the crossing point.

An American hiker challenged the crossing at the wide place of the river. But the water came at his stomach or chest. The wide part of the fork is deep as a lake. Therefore I do not recommend to cross the wide place. The water level lessened around 15 cm the next morning. Then I could cross the fork using boulders without wetting my boots. I met another hiker who broke his camera here.

The topological map and the 2018 photo suggested the safest route for avoiding river crossing clearly. The bank of the river is not steep. I recommend walking following the yellow line in 2018 photo. Then you can cross the river without wet boots.

2009.08.01

2011.07.31

2017.08.17

Rush Creek

I always crossed Rush Creek in August, never seen the water too high to cross. I did not check the cross country route. There are beautiful lakes named Marie Lakes on the left side of this map. I did not hike yet. BTW, the beautiful lake near Seldon Pass is Marie Lake.

If you approach this area from the north, you will find a small lake WA0297B by HalfMile's map. The cross country begins near here and you will go a little higher place. Then you will find the upper stream of Rush Creek. Cross the shallow place, then there is Rush Creek Trail. If you hike along this trail, there is a footbridge of Rush Creek. I had lunch here several times.

WA0927B

The footbridge of Rush Creek

Silver Pass Creek/North Fork Mono Creek

The river crossing of Silver Pass Creek which located in the south of Silver Pass is difficult when the water level is high. It was extremely difficult in June and July of 2017. The majority of PCT hikers gathered at VVR were headed to Goodale Pass avoiding Silver Pass Creek and Silver Pass. I will describe this route later.

There are three crossings along Silver Pass Creek and North Fork Mono Creek as indicated on the map. The upper stream No.1 is the most dangerous. I will show you two photos when the water level was low.

The crossing point becomes very dangerous when the water level is high. If you want to avoid the crossing here, you must climb the steep terrain. It is not safe. Therefore, when you get the information that the water level of Silver Pass Creek is high, you should head to Goodale Pass, not to Silver Pass.

2017.08.12

2011.08.05

2018.08.08, dry year

Goodale Pass ( bypass the river crossing of Mono Creek )

When you head to Goodale Pass instead of Silver Pass, you can avoid the crossing of Mono Creek. Contrarily, the summer of 2012 was completely dry and Lake Edison was dried up. Then I headed to Goodale Pass.

The trail is clear. there was a sign at the junction. After ascending for a while, there is a lake named Lone Indian. There is no water beyond the pass. The trail descends gently from the Pass along a brook. The crossing of it is very easy. There are signs of VVR near Lake Edison. You can easily get to VVR.

The junction of Goodale Pass

Lake of Lone Indian

The trail toward the Pass

The trail toward the Pass

Goodale Pass

Upper Graveyard Meadow

Lake Edison 2012.08.07

Hilgard Branch

JMT goes along the upstream of Bear Creek. There is a crossing point at Hilgard Branch, that is the junction of Lake Italy. It is usually shallow and can cross using boulders. But when the water level is high, the boulders lie under the water. There are several tent sites here.

2010.08.10

Bear Creek

The usual crossing point of Bear Creek is for a horse, not for human. When the water level is very low ( the summer of 2012 ), I crossed here using boulders. But, it is usually deep, then it is dangerous.

There are two routes avoiding the dangerous crossing. One way is to hike along the East Fork Bear Creek, then cross the creek, and do a little cross country to JMT. I did not check this crossing, but cross country is easy.

Another way is to cross the 300 meters downstream of the usual crossing point. The creek is divided into two streams and shallow. I prepared the topological map in 2017 summer beforehand. There were accidentally several log bridges at the small island. Therefore, I could cross without wetting my boots. BTW, these log bridges were washed out in 2018.

Bear Creek, the usual crossing point

Evolution Creek

The fording of Evolution Creek is famous. Its water level is constantly high. I had always crossed the usual crossing point. But I had to check the alternative route. Therefore I walked here as NOBO JMT. I describe it reversely.

The usual crossing point is a horse trail as indicated the first photo. There is a sign of an alternative route. The second photo is the alternative crossing point taken from the upper creek. The water level is shallow, flows slowly, and its stream bed is sand. The fourth photo is another brook. There is another sign of alternative route at the junction of JMT.

I walked both routes and doubted why this alternative route was not JMT. I finally realized JMT is a horse trail. If horses can walk through, no need for a bridge and alternative route. I strongly recommend this alternative route for humans.

The water level of South Fork which is located in the south of Mather Pass is always high and difficult to cross. It was a high snow year in 2017, and heat wave came in July. The melted water swelled the river. There were lots of discussions concerning the river crossing. I frequently uploaded avoidance routes to the Japanese Facebook group. But, I was suddenly blocked by this group and refused to stop at the trail angel of Sonora Pass. Therefore, I changed my hiking plan to stop at Yosemite Valley.

At this time, the tragedy had happened. I started to hike from Horseshoe Meadow on July 20. I heard about the death of the Japanese from an American hiker. But the detail was unknown. I searched for her accident on the web site, I found the article.

According to this report, "she was last seen on about July 8 in the vicinity of Rae Lakes. She was reported as missing on Saturday, July 22. On Sunday, July 23, another group of PCT hikers discovered a body underwater in the South Fork of the Kings River at what the National Park Service described as “an alternative water crossing at about 10,000 feet elevation.” That afternoon, park personnel confirmed the location of the body. " The report described southbound hikers should remain at the east side of the river, and hike along the used trail, and northbound hikers should hike along the east side when the crossing was difficult. But no used trail exists as described.

このことを知ったのはかなり後である。私がRae Lakeを歩いたのは7月27日なので、彼女のおよそ20日後に歩いたことになる。

I noticed this tragedy afterward. It was July 27, when I hiked along Rae Lake. I was around 20 days behind her.

When you hike southbound along JMT, you will reach the upper stream of South Fork (at the top of the map) in 1 hour from Mather Pass. If you find it is difficult to cross, you will be hard to cross the lower stream ( at bottom of the map ). Then you must decide to do the cross country hike. It takes around 2 hours. I recommend carrying a GPS device.

The first photo is the crossing point of the upper stream of South Fork. It was taken from the south. It is easy to do a cross country. There is no difficult place to walk. The second photo is taken near WACS0813-5 on Halfmile's map. The third photo is Vennacher Needle, taken near 0813. The fourth photo is near the junction of Tabooso Pass Trail. There is a trace here. The last photo is the usual crossing point. It was impassable.

It was a high-snow year in 2017. The red line on the topological map indicates the cross-country route, and the blue line is the cross-country route to 60 Lakes Basin, which is only for the experienced hikers. The second and third photo was taken at the same place in 2017 and 2018. The difference in water level was 30-40 cm. The cross-country along the lake is easy. The third photo was my crossing point. The flow of water was slow, shallow, and safe. The upper stream may be a good place because it is very narrow and could be crossed without wetting boots. The last photo was the trail I returned.

Follow the red line, the blue line is for experienced hiker for 60 lakes basin

2017.07.27

2018.07.28

I crossed here

I returned to the trail

Tyndall Creek

When the water level is high, it becomes difficult to cross Tyndall Creek. It was a high snow year in 2017. I checked the topological map and made the avoidance route beforehand. I met American hikers on the trail. One of the hikers was a nikkeijin (Japanese descent ). She said "Tandol is very dangerous. Don' ford". I realized Tandol means Tyndall after a few minutes. Her name as Hillary, which name I had heard before. I noticed she was Hillary I met at VVR in 2010 after having parted.

If you are a southbound hiker, you should decide to cross when you see the most upper stream. If you are a northbound hiker, you can decide when you see the water level at the usual crossing point. In case of difficulty to cross, you should stay along the east side of the river.

The first photo was the most upper stream in 2017 ( The water level was high ). You should do cross country as the red line on the topological map. The second photo was the place I crossed in 2017. It was a failure. I should cross more upper place. The third photo was taken in 2018 ( The water level was low ). The yellow line is the recommended cross-country route. The cross-country is easy. You should not stay on the trail.

2017.07.24

2017.07.27 I crossed here

2018.07.25. The yellow line is the recommended route.

Wright Creek

Wright Creekは幅が狭く、2017年でも渡渉が容易だったが、靴を濡らしたくなければ、赤の線のようにクロスカントリーすると良い。

Wright Creek is narrow. The crossing was easy in 2017. If you want to hike without wetting boots, the recommended cross country route is indicated as the red rine on the topological map.